Journal 4

Journal #4: “It’s Time to Trust Teachers with the Internet” by Dian Schaffhauser (All NETS)

Schaffhauser, Dian. (2010). It's time to trust teachers with the internet. The Journal, Retrieved from http://thejournal.com/Articles/2010/12/01/Its-Time-To-Trust-Teachers-with-the-Internet-A-Conversation-with-Meg-Ormiston.aspx?sc_lang=en&Page=1

Summary: The main point of this article was that for teachers to better utilize technology in the classroom they need to be trusted with easier and more unrestricted internet use.  She makes the point of saying that if educators can be trusted to use the internet in their classes how can they be trusted with children in general.  Also she says that once the teachers do have more unrestricted use of the internet available to them it is their responsibility to use it responsibly.  Another thing that is mentioned is the need to teach educators how to use the resources out their once they become available to them.

Question 1: Do you think that teachers should have unrestricted access to the internet to use in their classrooms?

A= I think that they should have complete access.  I agree with the author of the article that if we can trust teachers with the internet how are we supposed to trust them with kids.  There are so many good resources that could be used to help educators with their lesson (e.g. youtube, sites with primary sources…).  If teachers had access to these things they could use more technology in their classrooms and instruct students on how to use the technologies responsibly.

Question 2: Are there any down sides to this?

A= As with any other issue there are also downsides.  There are going to be teachers who use the internet in inappropriate or irresponsible ways.  When I say irresponsible I mean that they are going do something such as not screening a video before showing it in class and fail to realize that there is inappropriate content.  If time is taken to train the educator however I believe these kinds of problems can be easily overcome.

School 2.0 Results and Reflection

Reflection for School 2.0 Results (NETS-T 3,4, &5)

This exercise showed me that I need the most work in NET-S 5, which is to engage in professional growth and leadership.  According to this survey I am most proficient in NET-S 1.  This is to facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity.  So I decided to explore one of the resources in NET-S 5.  I was directed to the website Classroom20.com.  This is basically a social network for those interested in web 2.0 and social media in education.  They had upcoming online events and a large forum database.  They also allowed you to set up your own account and get involved in the conversation.  Some of the discussions were around things such as google docs and wikispaces.  I learned that there are many resources out there for teachers to access to help them integrate and use technology effectively in your own classroom.  Having people to communicate with can be very helpful.  I could see myself going to sites like this when I am a teacher to get ideas and input to help me with technology in the classroom.  There are so many different tools out there that sites like this one can expose me to.

Journal 3

100 Things That Make Me Happy :)
1. Live music
2. Beer
3. Pizza
4. Garlic
5. Rum mixed with coke
6. Chinese food
7. Road Trips
8. Snowboarding
9. The ocean
10. Fishing
11. Harry Potter haha
12. CSUSM
13. Fight night
14. Beer pong
15. Card Games
16. Taco Bell
17. California Burritos
18. My work families
19. My real fam
20. Money
21. Friends
22. Champagne
23. Hiking
24. Reading
25. Bob Marley
26. Beatles
27. Dirty Heads
28. Sublime with and without Rome
29. L.A. Laker wins
30. Rebelution
31. Helping people
32. The sun
33. The Spa
34. Beautiful women
35. South Park
36. Greece
37. Italy
38. Australia
39. New Zeland
40. My car
41. My bed
42. The Radio
43. Internet
44. Learning
45. Working out
46. Teaching
47. Meditation
48. Flowers
49. Trees
50. Animals
51. Experincing life in every way possible
52. Learning a new way to see things
53. Traveling
54. Sun glasses
55. Sweat pants
56. Laughing
57. Good stand up comedy
58. Talking with people
59. Meeting someone new
60. Silence
61. Barcelona F.C.
62. Football (soccer)
63. Live Sports
64. Bikinis
65. Playing beach volleyball
66. Designated drivers
67. Coffee
68. Energy drinks
69. Trying new food
70. Camping
71. Bonfires
72. History
73. Dreaming about what I would do if I won the lotto
74. Green
75. Yellow
76. Red
77. Buffalo Sauce
78. Avocados
79. Microwave
80. Hockey
81. Art
82. Pictures of space and nature
83. Kegs
84. 4th of July
85. Saint Pattys day
86. Gas Prices going down
87. Having nothing to do
88. Golfing
89. Good cigars
90. Comics in the newspaper
91. Sunflower seeds
92. Boating
93. Wakeboarding
94. Zoo
95. Aquarium
96. Exploring the world
97. Solar power
98. Recycling
99. Wind Power
100. Kindness

Journal 2

Journal #2: “Join the Flock” by Hadley Fergeson and “Enhance Your Twitter Experience” By Shannon McClintock Miller  (NETS 2 and 4)

Fergeson, Hadley. (2010). Join the flock. Leading and Learning With Technology, 37(8), Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/Libraries/Leading_and_Learning_Docs/June_July_2010_Join_the_Flock.sflb.ashx

McClintock Miller, Shannon. (2010). Enhance your twitter experience. Leading and Learning With Technology, 37(8), Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/Libraries/Leading_and_Learning_Docs/June_July_2010_Join_the_Flock.sflb.ashx

Summary:

These two articles were about how to best utilize twitter.  I found them fairly helpful seeing how I would not consider myself a twitter wiz just yet.  Some of the major topics that these article touched on were how to set up your twitter, how to find people you want to follow and how to make others follow you, how to make your tweats worthwhile, how to organize your twitter with tool such as tweetdeck and how to be strategic in the twitter world in general.  This article has been helpful for me because it gave me a simple rundown of how to use twitter effectively.

Question 1: Do you plan on using this technology in the classroom?

A: So far I would have to say no.  I don’t have a lot of experience with this particular bit of technology up to this point and find it a bit difficult to use.  Hopefully as the class goes on I will grow more comfortable with using this tech tool and will find a place for it in the classroom.

Question 2: What problems do you see with using twitter in the classroom?

A: As with all online resources one must be careful in regards to privacy and setting boundaries for the students.  Making sure students know that a classroom twitter tag is a professional environment would be very important to avoid it being used inappropriately.  Also the privacy of the students would have to be protected in some aspects from the world outside the classroom. 

Journal 1

Journal 1: “Do Web 2.0 Right” by Daniel Light  (NETS-S 1-4)

Light, Daniel. (2011). Do web 2.0 right. Learning and Leading with Technology, 38(5), Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/Libraries/Leading_and_Learning_Docs/February-2011-Do-Web-20-Right.sflb.ashx

Summary:

I found that this was a very interesting article that made me think of the best and safest way to integrate things such as wikis and blogs in the classroom setting.  The article was broken up into three sections: Daily Practice, Audience Matters and Appropriate Behavior.  In Daily use it talked about using individual and classroom blogs.  Classroom blogs seemed to be the more effective of the two.  They allow the students to generate conversation and get excited about upcoming units.  The next section, Audience Matters, was about being sure to create an appropriate community and to make sure to be sensitive to students who don’t want their work published publically.  The last section, Appropriate Behavior, was about controlling access to the online community and using this to promote a strong classroom community where the students know that this is an extension of the classroom and not about a strictly social experience.

Question 1: Do you plan on using this technology in your classroom?

A: I do plan on using this technology when I have a classroom of my own.  I want to teach high school history and think that a class blog that allows students to post their ideas about assigned topics will help to spark their interests in what is going on inside the classroom.  I’m thinking that once a week post of a paragraph or so would be the most appropriate.  This article also helped to show me what I need to be aware of in terms of privacy when asking students to post things online.

Question 2: What are the problems with using technology as an extension to the classroom?

A= The main problems seem to be restricting who can access and post on things such as blogs and also keeping the online usage interesting and stimulating to the students learning.  A teacher needs to make sure that their students privacy online is protected from the outside world.  Also an educator needs to make sure that their students are learning and having fun by using the online additions to the classroom community.